Snapshots of a Cat's Life
by Snoball13
Summary: Bits and pieces of the Hotch-Prentiss relationship as I see it, starting with how I think they would get together. It's the only way I think it would be possible, considering how uptight the two of them are. Rated for safety and possible later content.
1. Cat and Mouse

**Cat and Mouse**

It is never a good sign for the males in range when a group of women call a secret meeting and lock the door. This was the lesson that Penelope Garcia, Jennifer Jareau, and most importantly Emily Prentiss set out to inadvertently teach Aaron Hotchner one rainy Thursday afternoon when the work was low and the men of their team were blissfully unaware.

It was three p.m. when Emily snuck a look around the crowded bullpen and then proceeded to grab her friend's arm and drag her, spluttering in confusion, to the quiet confines of Penelope's office. Emily warned the two women to keep quiet as she locked the door from the inside and slid to the floor.

Penelope and JJ exchanged worried glances, but were uncertain of whether or not they were allowed to speak. Finally, after five long minutes, Penelope took the risk. "Emily, what is going on here?"

Emily's eyes were desperate when she raised her head and morosely announced to her friends, "I am officially doomed to be an old maid. I need your help, or all hope will be lost!"

The two women watching her merely blinked at the melodramatic statement.

"Care to elaborate on that any, Sweet Pea?" Penelope asked.

Emily looked at her like she was clearly missing the obvious. JJ, being the helpful profiler she tends to be, stage-whispered to Penelope, "She's been trying to hint to Hotch for months that she's into him, but, brilliant psycho-analyst that he is, he hasn't caught on."

"Hint?" Emily wailed. "I've all but posed naked on the man's desk! He must be _blind_ not to see it, and I can't just come right out and say it because the FBI's got all those stupid rules about relationships between coworkers!"

Penelope gaped at the dark-haired woman who had nearly reduced herself to tears. "You mean you've been crushing on Agent Hotchner and you never _told_ me? Sweet Pea, I thought we were friends?"

JJ raised an eyebrow at the computer whiz. "Pen, I think that's because she didn't want it blogged about for the entire public world to see. And she probably thought Hotch was the only employee left in the building that didn't know."

Emily's head snapped up to stare at her blonde friend in wide-eyed horror.

JJ backtracked hastily. "I'm exaggerating, Em. Really, exaggerating." Emily had begun gasping for breath, looking oddly fishlike.

"Breathe, Sweet Pea!" Penelope commanded. She fixed Emily with a tight-lipped glare, and Emily swallowed convulsively to calm herself and managed to sit up a little straighter. "That's better," Penelope approved.

"Now," JJ said, her tone all business. "How do you intend for us to fix this?"

Emily gave her a withering look. "If I knew that, I wouldn't have called you in here, would I?"

"You call dragging me halfway through the workplace _calling_ me?" JJ muttered.

"Semantics," Emily snapped.

"Well how the hell are we supposed to help you if we don't know what it is that you want from us?"

"What I want is for someone to figure out how the hell I'm supposed to tell Hotch that I friggin' love him without losing my job!" Emily shouted.

"Okay, okay, all right Em, we're working on it," JJ said, frantically trying to shush the desperate agent.

Emily narrowed her eyes accusingly. "No you weren't, you were bitching about my tactics."

"Okay, my dear honey bunches of oats," Penelope intervened, "we are accomplishing nothing. Can we please focus?"

At that moment, Penelope's ever-present cell phone rang from its place beside her computer. The three women stared at it for a few seconds before Penelope finally reached for it.

"No!" Emily hissed. "This is a private meeting! No outsiders!"

"Sweet Pea, it's even more suspicious if I don't answer it."

"No one can know I'm here. Or JJ either for that matter," Emily insisted.

"I don't have to tell them you're here."

"What if they ask?" Emily persisted.

"Then I'll _lie._"

"Fine then! Answer the damn thing!"

So of course, as soon as Penelope proceeded to do so, the ringing ceased. The women continued their practice of phone-staring.

"What if they come looking for you?" Emily was getting mildly hysterical.

"You're the one who kept me from answering it!"

"Hmph." An angry woman is never willing to take the blame.

"Em, I thought we were supposed to be on a mission here," JJ pointed out in an attempt to derail her.

"We are! But we aren't any further than when we first stepped into this office, and we are wasting precious time!"

"I don't know Sweet Pea," Penelope said contemplatively. "I personally kind of liked the idea where you stripped in Agent Hotchner's office."

JJ failed to hide her snicker while Emily dragged her friend's nickname out into a two-syllable whine. "Pe-en! I'm being serious here!"

JJ pulled herself together enough to give Penelope 'the look', and Penelope sheepishly said, "Sorry Sweet Pea, I couldn't help myself."

The three finally managed to calm down enough to put their heads together. The goal was for Emily to get the message across to Hotchner without losing her job, and, as she specified after Penelope threw out a few more obscene ideas, without any utter humiliation that would result in a personal desire to never show her face in the office again.

The trio froze in stunned panic when a knock echoed through the small space. "Garcia?" a voice called. "I know you're in there."

"It's Morgan," Emily whispered in alarm.

"Yes, Sweet Pea, thank you for stating the obvious, what do I do?"

Emily's frenzied looks between Penelope and the locked door were almost comical, in exception of the situation. Derek Morgan answered the question for her when he called, "Baby Girl, don't make me break down this door."

Emily's eyes widened and she hissed out an almost inaudible, "Go! Go!" and frantically gestured for Penelope to go to him."

Penelope pulled open the door cautiously and slipped out into the hallway to join the mocha-toned man. "Yes?" she asked innocently.

"Penelope Garcia, what is going on in there?"

"Nothing," she answered too quickly.

His eyes narrowed suspiciously at her. "Why didn't you answer your phone? You _never_ don't answer your phone."

"I was busy?" she squeaked out uncertainly. It was obvious that he didn't buy it, and as he reached for the handle to the door she was not-so-subtly blocking, she caved. "All right, all right, okay, all right!"

Derek's hand paused, and he quirked an eyebrow at the plump techie.

Penelope bit her lip. Emily would kill her if she gave up any more than half of the truth. "Emily called an emergency girls' meeting, and she doesn't have an office, so I kindly offered to lend her mine for a few hours."

Derek chuckled at the nervous way Penelope rushed through her words in a single breath. "So Prentiss finally came out of the closet, huh?" Penelope's eyebrows furrowed in a quizzical look. "About her Hotch obsession," he clarified.

"Oh," Penelope said. Apparently, JJ was right about everyone but Hotchner knowing. "Umm…."

Derek sighed and pushed past Penelope into the small space that was proving to be quite cramped when four full-grown adults were crammed inside.

"Garcia!" Emily yelped. "I thought I said _no outsiders_!"

"I'm hurt, Prentiss," Derek said with a mocking pout. The grin that followed it showed how much he was appreciating the opportunity to see Emily's generally cool, collected demeanor broken. "I thought you considered me a friend."

"Derek Morgan, what do you not understand about girls only?" Penelope demanded, planting her hands on her hips.

"Yes," Emily agreed snippily. "You're not welcome."

"Come on Prentiss, it's not like you're discussing anything that's news to me." He was beaming, obviously enjoying her discomfort.

JJ buried her face in her hands with exasperation at the rapidly devolving situation. "Morgan, please, if you're going to stay, at least tone down the antagonization."

"Sorry Jayje, I couldn't help myself."

"Yeah, well, nobody can today. You might want to leave while you still can," JJ warned. "I wouldn't be here if I hadn't been dragged."

"Desperate times call for desperate measures," Emily told the grumpy woman remorselessly.

Derek observed the exchange with a frown. "Do I get to hear what's being discussed before I make my decision?"

"Nope," Emily said. "Besides, I thought we weren't discussing anything that was news to you."

"Doesn't mean I know specifically what's being discussed, just that I know you, Prentiss."

"I'm flattered," she deadpanned. "You aren't allowed to know unless you officially intend to stay."

"That sounds like a double standard, Prentiss."

She folded her arms crossly. "It's the only way to know you won't go blabbing and ruin the whole point of the thing."

He 'hmph'ed and thought about it before he finally said, "All right, I'm in."

Penelope cheered, Emily glared at her murderously, and JJ groaned. It appeared to be an admittance of defeat; if Derek was staying, she had no hope of keeping the crazies in hand.

"Okay, this is how it is," Penelope said, laying out the plan for him. Or rather the lack of one, but that just depended on how you looked at it. On one hand, there was no official plan. On the other, the current plan was to _find_ a plan.

Emily began repeatedly banging her head on the wall behind her while they weren't focused on her, letting her friends – and occasional tormenters – know just how frustrated she was.

They went silent, and the only sound that remained were the continuous thuds from Emily's head meeting the wall. It was a sign of how far gone she was when she ignored the careful whispers her friends delved into after deciding there was no point in trying to get her to stop.

It probably would have been more beneficial to her mental health if she had paid the hushed discussion some attention. Alas, she did not.

She was concerned, however, when the three conspirators turned on her with matching grins. Emily gulped as they slowly approached her like a pack of hungry wolves stalking their prey. She tried to back away from them, but found that the office seemed much smaller when she actually needed the ample space it lacked.

"We are staging an intervention on your behalf, Sweet Pea," Penelope announced. The group encircled Emily so she had no route of escape.

"Jayje?" she begged, eyes wide with desperation.

JJ merely shook her head with a shrug. She seemed to be employing the ever-popular "if you can't beat 'em, join 'em" strategy.

"Come on, guys. Three on one? That's hardly fair."

Derek laughed. "Nice try, Prentiss." His muscular bulk was much more menacing when it was turned against her, Emily noticed.

In well-synchronized and sudden movements, Derek and Penelope each took hold of one of Emily's arms and proceeded to jerk her along out of the cramped office as JJ opened the door with a flourish and followed along behind them. Emily let out a shriek as they frog-marched her through the building, but remained silent for the rest of the humiliating journey after she realized how much attention that drew to the odd procession.

They reached the bullpen much quicker than Emily would have thought possible and dragged her up the stairs toward the row of larger, more spacious offices. She struggled against the iron-strong grip they had on her upper arms when they halted in front of the door that proudly claimed it belonged to "Supervisory Special Agent Aaron Hotchner".

Penelope rapped her knuckles sharply on the door several times, making sure to be heard. A faint call of "Come in" was enough for Derek to push the door open and Emily through it.

Penelope leaned her head in long enough to say, "Sorry to bother you, Sir, but Emily has something really important to tell you," and then pulled the door shut behind her. Emily had no doubt as Hotch looked up from his computer to face her that the traitors were fleeing the scene like the little cowards they were.

Right about then the enormity of what her friends were doing to her sunk in and she started gasping for breath.

"Prentiss?" Hotch asked. He watched her with confusion. It didn't take a genius to tell that something was wrong with her.

When she reached the point of hyperventilation and he got up from his desk to rush around to her. "Emily?" he said, placing his hands on her shoulders.

The sight of his face so close to hers and his touch just a thin layer of fabric away from her skin sent Emily over the edge; she stopped breathing altogether.

For one long instant she simply stared at him with her beautifully expressive brown eyes. He saw an emotion he couldn't quite recognize buried deep within them, and he wondered what was bothering the generally calm agent. Emily was usually very emotionless; it was something the two of them had in common, the way they compartmentalized every aspect of their lives.

The connection between them was broken when she swayed slightly on her feet. "Emily?" he repeated, becoming more concerned by the second. He had never seen her look so… vulnerable.

The sound of her name helped Emily to find a little more balance. She at least managed to get her lungs functioning again, although she had a feeling that if Hotch stayed as close as he was, her heart might stop for all the pressure it was being forced under. He seemed to be reading her mind when he took half a step back to give her some space.

"So what was this urgent message that Garcia was so convinced you needed to deliver?" Hotch asked her after her breathing had returned to a more normal rate.

"Umm," Emily said, feeling rather stupid. A deep blush filled her cheeks and stubbornly remained there as she tried to convince it that it most definitely was _not_ needed.

"Is it work-related or personal?" he asked, trying to make it easier for her to open up.

"Both," she mumbled. She was going to kill Penelope and Derek, she thought. And JJ, she added as she began contemplating which methods of torture would be the most painful. The idea provided a very nice temporary distraction.

"I see," Hotch said. Except that he didn't, and that was the problem. Absolutely nothing Emily could do would show him her dilemma, and it was consuming her from the inside out.

"Oh, for God's sake!" she exclaimed. If she was going to hell, and she most certainly was now that her friends had thrown her to the dogs, she might as well thoroughly enjoy it. Taking advantage of how close he was, she reached up to grab his tie and yanked his face down so that their lips crashed together in a ferocious kiss. She poured every ounce of the passion and tension she'd been keeping to herself for so long into the kiss. She _needed_ him to know how much she loved him, how much it had hurt to hide it from him through all the time she'd known him.

When the kiss broke, she quickly let go of his tie and allowed him to back away from her. "How long?" was all he asked.

"Every second since the day I met you," she murmured softly.

"You know there are rules against it in the agency."

"I know," she whispered. She clenched her teeth in an effort to fight back the tears that were threatening to overwhelm her.

He nodded, watching her sadly. He had thought he would be able to prevent this, no matter how much he could see the signs, but his luck was never so kind to him.

"I'm sorry," Emily said tightly. Then she turned and walked swiftly out of the office, and the door slamming shut behind her left a sense of finality in the room that did nothing but allow the sick feeling settling in the pit of his stomach to work its way to the forefront of his mind.

**Author's Note:**

**Well, what do you think? I originally planned this as a oneshot, but I had this spur of the moment idea as I was finishing it and decided that I just had to add another chapter. After that it's just going to be a collection of bits and pieces of the Hotch-Prentiss relationship as I see it. I do intend to keep the whole cat idiom thing going with my chapter titles, so if you send me any that you can think of, it would be a great help. I hope to post the next chapter within the week, so I won't keep you waiting long.**

Your author,

**Snoball13**


	2. Cats and Dogs

**Sorry this took longer than I expected. It turned out a little more angsty than I intended, and I started over so many times it wasn't even funny. Hopefully it was worth the extra time.**

**Cats and Dogs**

A week had passed since Emily had been forced to confront Hotch, and the tension the encounter had caused among the members of the team was as vibrant as ever. Very few words had been spoken between Hotch and Emily. Emily remained more than pissed at JJ, Penelope, and Derek no matter how often nor how elaborately they attempted to apologize. Reid and Rossi, having had no part in the secret meeting of the previous Thursday, were clueless as to what exactly was causing the abounding temperamental issues within the unit.

Needless to say, the team was not having the most successful of weeks.

Unfortunately, success was the one thing the team was desperately in need of. They were working a case in the usually arid city of Phoenix, Arizona, and the weather had taken a turn for the wacky. The heavens had opened up and were dumping buckets all over the inconveniently outdoor crime scenes. The only service the abundance of water provided to the team was to wash away almost all the evidence available.

The unsub they were dealing with acted like a sexual sadist with a narcissistic personality. Based on victimology, however, they would seem to be dealing with a _lack_ of self-confidence and a tendency to overcompensate. The two personalities were, obviously, mutually exclusive.

The lack of material evidence and conflicting possible profiles left the team with very little to work with. All they could do was hope that a previously unidentified witness had seen something and would come forward to miraculously provide them with a break-through to see into their killer's head.

The one thing they could all agree on was how likely that was, also known as _not very_.

And so the team was sitting around a table with Penelope on speakerphone, brainstorming for anything they might not have thought of. They hadn't come up with anything that made sense for their unsub except for Dissociative Identity Disorder, and the trace amounts of evidence they had showed a very organized signature.

Based on the team's experience, multiple personalities and organization simply didn't go together.

"Maybe we should talk to the victims' families again," Derek finally suggested. "There could be some small detail we're overlooking."

"You mean you don't think we've harassed these poor people enough?" Emily asked. "Between us and the police, they've been interviewed three times, and they just lost a loved one."

"You don't think I know that?" Derek demanded.

Emily opened her mouth for a no-doubt furious retort, but Penelope cut her off. "Princess we're just trying to find a solution to this mess, we're not trying to be insensitive."

"Yes, well, we all know how great of a solution-finder _you_ are, Garcia," Emily quipped.

Reid's eyebrows pulled together and he probably would have launched into an explanation of how it wasn't really _all_ of them because he didn't know, but JJ kicked him under the table and gave him a look that said, 'you _really_ don't want to go there.'

"Prentiss is right," Hotch said, stopping the budding argument in its tracks. "We're not going to get anything more out of the families."

Derek sighed and leaned back in his chair. If the boss said no, then no it was. There was absolutely no point in arguing with Hotch.

The group didn't get a chance to think through any other options they might have, because someone tapped on the door to their little conference room and pushed it open. One of the deputies they'd been working with stepped inside and said, "A couple of kids just found another body."

The disheartening news affected everyone similarly. Emily and JJ closed their eyes, Hotch buried his face in his hands, and Derek slammed his fist down on the table in anger as he stood. Reid and Rossi exchanged morose glances. Everyone's face was a mask of desperation and disappointment.

It took Hotch a minute to compose himself enough to ask, "Do we have an ID on her?"

The deputy nodded. "Her name was painted on her chest, same as all the rest. It was Rachael Piaskowski. Her parents never even reported her missing."

"Alright," Hotch said, switching on his 'game face', as some of his team had come to call it. There was only a slight difference between the expressions, but they knew him well enough to recognize it. "I'll go talk to the family. JJ, Morgan, Reid, and Dave, follow the deputy to the crime scene. Prentiss, you're with me."

Every face in the room turned to stare at him in disbelief. He would never admit to his team that he'd slipped into old habits accidentally, so he couldn't change the order. The realization that he wanted more than anything to be able to do just that made him feel like a terrible coward.

He pushed past the deputy and out of the room, leaving everyone blinking after him. None of them had any idea what had just happened. It was times like that when they found it extremely difficult not to profile their teammates.

After a minute or so they realized that they were still just standing around and rushed out of the room in quick succession.

Emily and JJ were the last two out of the room, and before they joined the others, JJ reached out to touch Emily's shoulder. "Are you okay?" she asked, concerned.

"I'm fine," Emily snapped, shrugging her off. She shot a frown at JJ as she turned and stalked away.

"Em!" JJ called after her with a sigh. She truly regretted her part in the disaster that she had helped Derek and Penelope concoct. She had been sure Hotch returned Emily's feelings for him; all the signs had been there. Now she thought maybe she'd just been seeing what she'd wanted to be there for her friend's sake. She felt horrible for making the relationship between the two more volatile.

And now… what was Hotch thinking, pairing Emily with himself? It must have been a mistake, a slip of the tongue. It was the only thing JJ could think of to explain what otherwise would be nothing but simple idiocy.

"Are you okay?" Derek asked her quietly when she slid into the seat next to him. He had noticed the slight remorse in her eyes despite her attempts to hide it.

"Yeah," she whispered wearily. "I'm just worried about Em."

Derek nodded in understanding. "She'll be fine." He was more confident in himself when it came to his knowledge of the team. While he understood JJ's concern, he was personally maintaining the belief that Hotch wanted Emily just as much as she wanted him. Hotch habitually paired Emily with himself, which had been the first tip-off. It had gotten Derek's attention, and he'd started noticing the interactions and subtle sexual tension between them. He also knew enough about that kind of thing to know it wasn't one-sided.

Derek knew his boss, too. Hotch might not be willing to _do_ anything about how he felt, but he wasn't the type to patronize Emily about it either. Hotch was more understanding, at the very least, than he liked them to believe.

He turned in his seat to watch Emily follow Hotch to the dark SUV he always drove as Rossi pulled out of the parking lot.

Emily felt dread course through her veins with every step she took. She ran a nervous hand through her hair as she jerked open the door to the van.

Hotch watched her as surreptitiously as he could as she gracelessly lifted herself into the seat beside him. He hoped maybe this return to old ways would be what they needed to start them back on their way to the friendship they'd had before. He missed the easy smiles she greeted him with in the morning and the opportunities to return them throughout the day. He'd smiled more since he met her than he had in all his years at the Bureau.

He winced when she turned and faced out the window. He could barely see her face through the thick dark hair that for once wasn't pulled back, but he could tell from what little he could see that it was a carefully arranged mask. Whatever she was truly feeling was bottled up and buried deep behind it, where no one, particularly him, could find nor offend it.

He allowed them to ride in silence for a while as he maneuvered the maze of city streets.

Emily felt Hotch's eyes drilling into her the whole way across the city. Even when he was focused on the road before him she knew he was chancing frequent peripheral glances in her direction. She also felt the void where camaraderie had once existed. It was like an obvious, gaping hole, and the silence made it worse.

She had always been the best at compartmentalizing, but now it was proving almost impossible as she fought back the surge of overwhelming pain and regret. She had been so concerned with wanting more than she had before that she hadn't seen the risk. She never thought reaching out for it would make her lose what she already had.

Right now she wanted nothing more than everything back the way it was before she made her stupid mistake.

Hotch took a deep breath and sighed. He couldn't be a coward any longer; anything was better than the emptiness she'd left him with the week before.

"Emily?" he said quietly. Her head came up slightly and she blinked in surprise. If anything she hadn't expected the use of her first name. She hesitated, uncertain of how well she could control herself now that she had laid out her feelings for him to see and knew he didn't return them.

"Em?" he murmured.

Emily turned in shock to stare at him with eyes more vulnerable than he'd ever seen her.

He gritted his teeth to say the two words he'd thought he would never say to another woman. "I'm sorry." As simple as they were, they brought back memories he'd banished to the farthest corners of his mind. It was disturbing, how easily retrievable they were.

She morosely shook her head. "Don't apologize. None of it is your fault. I overstepped my bounds; I never should have gone against the rules."

_Rules_. The word sent a realization flying at Hotch like a brick wall. He internally cursed himself and bad timing, but followed his gut and pulled the van off onto the shoulder. If he didn't tell her what had just occurred to him right then, he would never again find the courage to do it. He knew it might still be too late.

"I'm apologizing because it's not about the rules," he told her. "It's never been about the rules. I've just been hiding behind them because they're convenient."

Emily continued to stare at him. She didn't know where he was going, and she wasn't sure it was something she wanted to hear.

"After losing Haley twice I can't bear the thought of losing someone else. No matter what I do, that pain haunts me. I don't know if I could survive that again. That's why I compartmentalize; I have to keep my personal life separate from my work, or else everything I work for is put at risk. I put myself in the line of fire every day, but the thought that the things and people I love can't be protected from it destroys me every time it crosses my mind.

"But the two are inherently linked. I know, no matter how much I try to deny it, that _I_ am the link. So I distance myself from everything and cut off my emotions to stop the pain. My job is to serve and protect the country I love, and I have failed nowhere more than among those people I love most."

It touched Emily to no end that Hotch was spilling his heart out to her. Something she'd said had triggered this, and it meant everything to her that he chose to reveal this to _her_. "But what does this have to do with –"

"I _do_ care about you, Emily. I always have, but I was convinced that it was better for both of us if I kept my distance. I saw the signs, I knew how you felt, but I fooled myself into thinking it would never work. I used any excuse I could find to shield myself from the mere potential of more pain."

He cupped her cheeks between his hands and whispered, "I compartmentalize because it's easier than admitting the connections that endanger my world. Caring about you crossed every boundary I'd ever built myself. I didn't know what to do."

Emily rejoiced at his use of the word _'didn't'_. It meant that he _did_ know what to do now; he was finally voicing an emotion that he had apparently been hiding from her as long as she'd hidden the same thing from him.

And then he kissed her, and they both knew that while they still had a lot to work out, everything was going to be okay.

Even if the prospect did sound like a horrible cliché paired with a crappy chick flick.

**Author's Note:**

**And the beginning is complete! Actually, from here on out it's going to be marked as complete because it's basically going to be a series of drabbles. I'll update whenever I can. If you have any particular scenes you want to see, just send the idea my way and I'll see what I can do. I will say now, however, that I don't do smut or anything that comes close to it. Notice the story's rating, thank you. This is all just for your amusement and my own.**

Peace out for now,

**Snoball13**


End file.
